Can you have to many?

Albermarle

that I'll create an excel sheet over just about anything now.
Investments? Savings? Energy Usage? Tax Calculations? Car Comparison? Holiday Planning?
At this point, it's not long till I'm noting what I had for breakfast on a spreadsheet

Maybe you need to get out more 

Sounds a bit like a second job !

I suppose  the key question with keeping many multiple current  accounts, savings accounts etc is that is the work/time involved worth the reward.

Clearly shopping around for good interest rates from time to time, and taking up the occasional special offer/cashback is good practice, but I think the more you do it the law of diminishing returns kicks in.

In my own mind I did not do a couple more extra years at work before retiring, to spend time sending chasing e mails or calls for a £25 introductory offer, or opening new accounts with new providers for 0.1% interest.

But it works for some of course.

Bridlington1

madlyn said:

The thing is, I find it a bit confusing and scary.
Once I have paid all my monthly necessary bills, I currently put just under £100 away in my EA savings accounts, S&S ISA and a private pension. I could increase this but I like to have a cushion to fall back on in my current account should I ever need it.
purely as an example, is having 4 EA accounts and 2 RS accounts with around £15 a month (maybe less if I went for more accounts) going into each worth it? 

That's understandable, it can be a bit confusing and scary at first if you aren't used to having lots of accounts but honestly once you've got into the swing of it it actually becomes quite enjoyable I've found. 

I would say however it is certainly a good idea to have a back up current account and a spare savings account (both with a different provider to the one you have your main account with) in case you have issues with your main account as a safety net even if you never use it much. You don't have to go grabbing any of the rewards/best interest rates if you don't want to, but a spare account is useful.

As an example I once had my HSBC account frozen for 23 days, if that had been my only current account it would have been extremely stressful as I would have become financially paralysed for 23 days. Luckily I had accounts and savings elsewhere so I could in effect "isolate" the HSBC account and carry on with the rest of my financial affairs as normal whilst waiting for the account to be unfrozen so I wasn't that affected by it.

BooJewels

I'm only very new to savings and watching interest rates etc [never had any money before] and really feel now that I'm obviously not trying hard enough with only 22 different accounts (current accounts, EA, fixes, PBs, Income Bonds and ISA).  Some are historic and for organisational purposes, many are new. It's only over a limited number of organisations though - that's one of my personal criteria.

I have however already gone through it with my son and created a document with a list of all these accounts, plus all my DDs, insurance policy numbers, NINo, NHS No. etc.  I print out a copy periodically and then hand write on more sensitive information and keep this in a fireproof bag in a place where he and I each have a key for. 

Having recently executed several estates, I feel a responsibility to make it as easy as possible for him - my father's affairs were a total mess when I first started looking after them as his attorney my aunt's that I'm doing now has been a dream - even at 95 she was totally organised.  My worry is that whilst I have good intentions and am totally on top of it now, that I'll lose my resolve and my tech savvy at the same rate as my marbles and not keep it up at the very time I should be.  But having lost my husband far too young, I know that reaching old age is no guarantee, so maybe I have to content myself with it being okay today and hoping my son addresses it if he thinks I'm losing touch with it all.

Millyonare

As others have said, Excel is your friend. Very useful to control dozens or hundreds of accounts.

Still a pain, tho. Particularly for tax.

In an ideal world, less is best. Keep it simple.

BooJewels

If that was aimed at me @Millyonare - I already have a bad spreadsheet habit - I do love a bit of number crunching and already record data in a number of cross-referenced ways.

dealyboy

BooJewels said:

I'm only very new to savings and watching interest rates etc [never had any money before] and really feel now that I'm obviously not trying hard enough with only 22 different accounts (current accounts, EA, fixes, PBs, Income Bonds and ISA).  Some are historic and for organisational purposes, many are new. It's only over a limited number of organisations though - that's one of my personal criteria.

I have however already gone through it with my son and created a document with a list of all these accounts, plus all my DDs, insurance policy numbers, NINo, NHS No. etc.  I print out a copy periodically and then hand write on more sensitive information and keep this in a fireproof bag in a place where he and I each have a key for. 

Having recently executed several estates, I feel a responsibility to make it as easy as possible for him - my father's affairs were a total mess when I first started looking after them as his attorney my aunt's that I'm doing now has been a dream - even at 95 she was totally organised.  My worry is that whilst I have good intentions and am totally on top of it now, that I'll lose my resolve and my tech savvy at the same rate as my marbles and not keep it up at the very time I should be.  But having lost my husband far too young, I know that reaching old age is no guarantee, so maybe I have to content myself with it being okay today and hoping my son addresses it if he thinks I'm losing touch with it all.

@BooJewels ... I think you're wonderful and your son is very lucky.

You haven't lost it yet  ... keep writing and I'll let you know  .

housebuyer143

madlyn said:

The thing is, I find it a bit confusing and scary.
Once I have paid all my monthly necessary bills, I currently put just under £100 away in my EA savings accounts, S&S ISA and a private pension. I could increase this but I like to have a cushion to fall back on in my current account should I ever need it.
purely as an example, is having 4 EA accounts and 2 RS accounts with around £15 a month (maybe less if I went for more accounts) going into each worth it? 

I would only be using regular savers if you are saving £100 a month in them. They are paying the best interest and there is no reason you can't use more than one.

I put larger lump sums in a few instant access, some fixed but now I have about £1000 a month to save and I'm splitting it over NatWest regular saver £150@6.17%, and £300 FD @ 7% and the rest into chip at 3.71%. 

Ocelot

Just checked - I have 49 (including old accounts I no longer use), after consolidating a few ISAs last year.

TheBanker

I probably have too many accounts, but each serves a purpose.

I have my main Natwest current account which receives my salary and pays most of my bills. I like Natwest and do not wish to move this account. I have my backup Nationwide account (because they issue a Visa rather than Mastercard). Currently I qualify for the 5% interest so I keep a balance there. When the interest period ends I will reduce this balance. And I have my Chase account which is only used for debit card spending to generate cashback. Finally, I've just opened a First Direct account to get the 7% Regular Saver. 

Then I have a collection of Instant Access savings accounts, Regular Savings Accounts, Fixed Term savings accounts and Cash ISAs (some of which are fixed term accounts). Then I have a few investments and pensions. Apart from occasional manual transfers, this doesn't take up much effort as most of the payments are automatic.

My executor would need to put in some work, but they are also the main beneficiary so they will be rewarded for their efforts. And if they cannot or do not want to put the effort in, they can pay a professional to deal with it for them. To make life as easy as possible for them, I have a list of all my accounts, pensions, insurance policies etc. This is kept in a safe place in my house, along with a copy of my will and requests for my funeral. Close family know where to find this file and would have access to my house as they have spare keys. I hope this will make things as easy as possible for whoever has to deal with my estate. I also hope it will be a very long time before that day comes! 

When my dad passed, his accounts were a complete mess. I had to sort through years worth of papers to try to track down all of his savings. He didn't seem to be chasing rates - he seemed to open accounts then forget about them. I found lots of statements stuffed in cupboards and drawers, many of which were still in unopened envelopes. Unfortunately he also saved every letter from the bank, whether it was notifying of a change in terms and conditions or promoting loans and credit cards. I suspect this 'sorting out' would be even harder today given many accounts don't actually generate any paper that can be filed away. In the course of doing this sorting out, I discovered a building society account containing almost £100k. The Building Society had marked it as dormant and stopped sending paperwork.

So I don't think having lots of accounts is a problem for the estate administrator, but having disorganised records is. And in the modern world where lots of records only exist digitally, it's important that the executor will know where they are and be able to access them. This shouldn't involve sharing actual account passwords and you need to work on the basis they won't be able to access your computer, phone or email accounts. My solution is a paper record, but you could do it electronically I suppose. 

BooJewels

TheBanker said:

[snip]
So I don't think having lots of accounts is a problem for the estate administrator, but having disorganised records is. And in the modern world where lots of records only exist digitally, it's important that the executor will know where they are and be able to access them. This shouldn't involve sharing actual account passwords and you need to work on the basis they won't be able to access your computer, phone or email accounts. My solution is a paper record, but you could do it electronically I suppose. 

Indeed - I had the same nightmare with my father's affairs.  Whilst I have recorded all of the accounts I have with each organisation, in reality an executor would just contact the organisation with perhaps a name and address and they'd sort it from there. 

But it's perhaps that twilight period where someone (probably the same person) might be acting for you as an Attorney where they might need to understand your arrangements rather better and to know where money is etc. for paying bills.  For example, whilst I have current accounts, I keep little money in them, I just transfer what I need from connected savings accounts.